Events and news from Aix-en-Provence

Aix’s Book in Bar in New Novel!

‘Middle England’ by Jonathan Coe – just published to positive reviews – features an unusual location in its pages: Book-in-Bar.

One of the protagonists, art lecturer Sophie, finds herself in Aix and sees ‘ a shop selling English-language books: its sign was a teapot painted like a Union Jack’. She enters with an attractive fellow academic, American musician Adam. The place has ‘such a special quality in her memory. Perhaps it was the atmosphere in the bookshop……..perhaps it was the watchful, smiling attention of the woman behind the counter, who greeted them so politely, in such good English……’ leaving the couple with an ‘imperceptible shift in their centre of gravity’.

It came as such a surprise to me to find this familiar scene in a novel, especially as I had just bought the book there….

Sophie and Adam also spend time in Marseille, taking a boat to Frioul, visiting the beach, stripping off for a swim, and…………won’t spoil the story.

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Art in the South of France; the inside story

The South of France. Enchanted by the deep blue of the Mediterranean, the olive trees, poppies, irises and that dazzling light, artists found their creativity flourished under the hot sun. My new book takes you on a journey visiting museums and galleries as well as artists’ studios and their favourite painting spots. From Van Gogh in Arles, to Signac in Saint-Tropez; from Cézanne in Aix, over to Nice for Renoir and Matisse, the story unfolds of artists who knew each other and painted together in the warm south. Prepare too to meet colourful local artists who captured their beloved Provence for us to enjoy.

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My first book tells the story of this fascinating town and introduces .some of the characters who have lived here. With a focus on people rather than buildings, history is unravelled through anecdotes with lots of suggestions of what to see when you visit. Available from lulu.com - /aix-en-provence-the-inside-story